Getaway Car
by beaut1fully-tragic
Summary: Artemis wants nothing more than to get her car fixed and head back to Gotham, but luck isn't in her favor when she's caught in an explosion in Central City and catches the eye of Kid Flash- and also the suspicion of his mentor. Characters and Pairings to be added once I actually figure out who's going to be in this story. Some language, so higher T rating.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey everyone! I'm a first time fanfiction writer and I love constructive criticism, so let me know what you guys think! Still looking for a Beta. Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice. I'm just stoked about season 3. Also, there are some nods in this work to Quantico, which I have been binging recently. I don't own that either. Thanks for reading!**

Chapter 1

After spending the last twelve hours running across rooftops and bruising her knuckles, Artemis didn't expect to spend the next twelve sitting in a car repair shop all the way in Central City. Yet here she was, sipping on the worst coffee she's ever come into contact with (which was saying a lot coming from a poor girl from Gotham) and waiting for her precious car-child to be put back together. The accident totally wasn't her fault, that asshole ward of Bruce Wayne was the one who ran into her _parked car,_ and you bet he's the one getting the bill for it too.

"It's going to be another couple of hours, Ms. Crock. Sorry for the wait." The attendant told her before she could even open her mouth to ask the same question she'd already asked probably twenty times before.

Crossing her arms with a pout, Artemis grabbed her bag. "Fine. Just call me when it's ready then?" Maybe she could go find a coffee with some taste.

Her phone's map told her that the closest coffee shop, CC Jitters was just over a two mile walk from her current location- but she figured she had plenty of time. The walk took less than twenty minutes at a moderate pace.

Jitters was surprisingly not crowded even though it was around lunch time on a beautiful Monday afternoon. The small coffee shop was right between the police station, the court house, a bank, and a couple other small businesses. It really was a great location for business, which made it even weirder that Artemis was only one of a few scattered patrons in the shop today.

After grabbing her hazelnut latte from the barista, Artemis left the popular shop to walk around downtown. Might as well make something of this trip to Central and see what the city has to offer while her car is being fixed. Compared to Gotham, Central City was so sickeningly bright and normal, it almost didn't seem real. Next to Jitters was a plant shop, and further down the street she saw a book store and an antique shop. It was a middle-aged soccer mom's wet dream.

However perky Central City seemed, there was something off. It was too quiet, and Artemis knew from experience that "too quiet" was never a good thing. "Too quiet", Artemis had learned from babysitting her niece and her other extracurriculars, could be down-right dangerous. A white van passed in front of her and turned behind the courthouse, and then she saw another. Several of the same white vans went past her and into different directions, seemingly taking their places. That's when she knew.

"Get down!" She yelled to the few other people on the street before being thrown to the ground herself, heat grazing her neck and rubble falling around her. A total of five white vans, parked in almost a circle around the city's downtown square exploded before her eyes, and coming from the only direction there wasn't an explosion, she caught a glimpse of a group of masked men running into the bank before her head hit the ground for a second time.

That's when her phone began to ring, and she answered it on the brink of consciousness.

"Ms. Crock? Your car is ready."

When Artemis came to, the world was a blur around her and she could hardly catch her breath. She was moving. Someone was carrying her. Looking up, she saw the mask. _Fuck._ She cursed to herself. Usually she tried her best to avoid the heroes, but here she was in the arms of one.

"Put me down." She managed to get out, but she doubted he could hear her running this fast.

"Put me down!" Artemis said a bit louder, wiggling to loosen his grip.

The hero in question halted to a stop and Artemis was finally able to get a good look at him, even though her head was still spinning from hitting it so hard. "Sorry, Ma'am, I can't do that."

She rolled her eyes, an action that took more effort than she should. She figured she probably had a concussion- but that was the least of her problems at the moment.

"Don't you have somewhere else to be, other people to help?" She questioned. He didn't falter.

"Flash can handle it until I get you to a hospital. You hit your head pretty hard by the looks of it." So this must have been Kid Flash. Artemis now noticed the inverted color scheme. Of course, Kid Flash. She's seen him on the news. What did he say? Hospital.

"I'm fine really, I don't need a hospital." Now was his opportunity to roll his eyes at her. She couldn't see herself, but she could feel the blood dripping and drying down the side of her face, and the bruises forming all along her body. But she's been in worse shape. "Really. Put me down."

For what she suspected could be the first time in his life, he listened and gently let her down onto the sidewalk. "Okay. But could I get your number so I can check on you later?" She looked up to see the cheesiest smirk on his face, illuminated only by what she could now see were just-as-bright green eyes. He was way too close for comfort.

Artemis took a step back. "Does that line usually work? Or only on girls who are concussed?" Kid Flash bashfully rubbed the back of his neck, his long arm sprawled over the back of his head. "And again, that looked like a pretty serious explosion back there, shouldn't you be back in the action?"

At that, a switch seemed to turn on in the young hero's head, and without even a goodbye he was gone with the wind. Artemis sat on the curb to catch her breath. She looked around to get an understanding of where she was in this unfamiliar city and took out her phone to pull up her map. Of course, because she was having such great luck today, it was broken. How was she supposed to get back to the car repair shop now?

Because of the explosion downtown, there were no taxis running. No one was even driving Uber. Understandable, but annoying for someone who just wanted to get her car and get out of the city before her luck turned even worse. After cleaning up in a random business's bathroom, Artemis took back to the streets. How kind of Kid Flash to leave her stranded in the middle of a crisis.

She was curious about the explosions downtown. They were planned, very organized. This wasn't just a random criminal looking to rob the bank, these were professionals. That was never good news for Artemis, and it would be even worse news if someone were to spot her and that information get back to her father. She needed to get of Central as soon as possible.

Despite all reason telling her not to, Artemis started walking back in the direction of downtown. It was the most logical way to get back to the car repair shop, especially without knowing the city very well. It took a while, but eventually she saw the rubble from earlier and a hoard of emergency vehicles putting out fires and helping to evacuate the area. Flash and his protegee were nowhere in sight. Artemis felt a twinge of disappointment, but quickly brushed it off. She began to retrace her steps from this morning, pushing through the dizziness her concussion was causing her. _Take a break_ , her mind was telling her, and she mistakenly listened. Taking a second to sit, Artemis suddenly felt drained of whatever adrenaline was helping her push through, and what she wanted more than anything in that moment was a long drink of water.

Using the last ounce of strength she had left, Artemis pushed herself up. She was almost there, once she got back to her car she could rest. She could leave and hopefully never return to Central City and live her life semi-peacefully in Gotham where she at least knew what to expect on any given day.

Taking not even two steps, something caught her eye. Assuming it must have come from the explosion, Artemis bent down to pick it up. It was a thick, yellow envelope singed at the edges- but almost purposely that way. This wasn't right. The envelope was placed here after the explosion, it was too clean in an area surrounded by ash and dust. Turning it over in her hands, Artemis got a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. Right in the middle of the envelope in big bold letters was something that made her want to lurch over and throw up where she stood.

Her name.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Not making any promises, but I will try to update every Monday. I realize today is Tuesday, so I've already broken my promise. But you can definitely expect an update before Wednesday. Thank you all so much for reading! Please review, let me know how you like it!**

Chapter 2

She was running.

It was something she had gotten good at over the years, an art that had been perfected as a result of surviving on the streets of Gotham her whole life. With age she had only gotten better. Running from her father, her past, and now running from whatever is inside the envelope and what it could mean.

Artemis held the singed yellow envelope close to her, obstructing the view of anyone who could be watching. She didn't even know where she was running to at this point, Artemis just knew she needed to get _away._ Someone is watching her, someone is following her.

This would be so much easier if she had her car.

After a while, Artemis had to stop and catch her breath. Her blonde hair was knotted and falling out of her ponytail, and she could tell that she looked a mess. This was reminding her all too much of the "camping trips" her father used to take her on. The ones where he would drop her off in some remote location and she had twenty-four hours to figure out how to get home or else she'd be punished. Just like those trips, she was tired and starving and scared of what the consequences would be were she to give up. It all brought back _such_ great memories.

So, she kept moving. She knew the auto shop was close, just up the street. Artemis longed so badly to be back behind the wheel of her old car, and to be back on the road. She could practically smell the leather of the seats and the oil that constantly leaked out of places it shouldn't. She knew her car was shitty, but it was the only escape she'd ever had.

"Whatchya got there?" A voice from behind her startled her, and she felt the envelope being pried from her hands. She tightened her grip and pulled back, winning it back easily. Spinning around, Artemis saw that it was once again the nuisance that was Kid Flash, once again getting in her way. Surveying the area, she saw that Flash himself was also just a few steps away.

"None of your business," She spat back. _Wow,_ Artemis thought to herself _, could I sound like any more of a child. "_ What do you want?"

Flash stepped forward this time. "We just wanted to ask you some questions about what you saw, you were downtown during the attack, right?" He didn't phrase it like a question.

"Listen, I didn't see anything." Which wasn't exactly the truth, but Artemis couldn't shake the feeling she was being watched. She wasn't a snitch. She also wasn't sure what her involvement in the events that occurred today was. "I'm just trying to get home, so if you'd just leave me alone that would be great."

Flash narrowed her eyes at her for a moment, but his demeanor quickly changed. "Of course. KF, would you assist Miss..." He drifted off, waiting for her to supply her name to fill in the blank. She didn't. Flash cleared his throat, somewhat annoyed. "Assist this young lady to her car."

The two heroes shared a look, Artemis noticed, before the older of the two sped away and she was left alone with Flash Junior. "So, uh..." Kid Flash rubbed the back of his neck, what seemed to be a nervous tick. "I didn't catch your name."

"That's because I didn't provide it." Artemis just wanted to get home, she didn't have time for small talk. "Look, my car is at Tony's Auto Shop, if you could just tell me how to get there-"

Before she could finish her sentence, she was once again unwillingly in his arms, and moments later she was in front of the destination she had spent the day trying to get back to. "You're welcome." Kid Flash said and put her back on her feet, now donning a shit-eating grin.

"Yeah, whatever, thanks." She brushed him off and walked toward the building. The lights were still on, but nobody was in the lobby. However, she could hear voices coming from the garage.

"What do you mean they're gone?" Artemis heard the manager yell to the other mechanics when she walked into the garage. "All of them? Where did they go?" The manager's face was beet red, as if he was seconds away from imploding on himself.

The couple mechanics that were scattered around the garage seemed unaffected, like they were used to getting screamed at. "I dunno, boss. We was on lunch break, and when we's came back, they was gone." Not realizing it before, Artemis now saw that the garage was empty. She felt like an idiot for not realizing there weren't any _cars_ in the _car shop._

More specifically, _her_ car was not in the car shop. "Gone?" She felt herself vocalize, and the mechanics all turned to her. Seeing it was a customer, all their faces went white as sheets. Someone was getting fired today. "Where is my car?" They all started trying to explain themselves. No one seemed to know what had happened. No one apparently was around when the incident took place.

"What about the security cameras?" For whatever reason (she was unwilling to admit it was to her luck) Kid Flash was still there, having followed her into the shop. He was pointing to some old cameras hanging from the ceiling, cameras that any seasoned criminal could tell didn't actually work.

The manager confirmed her hypothesis. "Yeah, those don't actually record anything. More for show, we don't get much action around here." He combed his fingers through his beard, and continued to stand around being completely useless.

"How did six cars disappear without any of you idiots noticing?"

Kid Flash stepped forward in front of her. "Hey, that isn't necessary. We'll find your car. We can check street cameras." He apologized to the men in the shop and dragged her out to the street. She saw in the distance police lights flashing, probably coming to their current location.

The last thing Artemis needed was to be seen by cops. "Hey Flash Boy, uh actually I'm pretty tired. Know any motels I can stay for the night?" She could get a few hours of sleep, then hopefully with some luck figure out _where the fuck_ her car was and get out of this shit-hole that is Central City before noon.

She was also desperate to see what was inside the envelope without any prying eyes around, particularly the eyes of the boy in front of her. "Yeah, of course." He obliged. She found herself next at a not-too-shady looking motel and a room all to herself (kindly paid for but Kid Flash himself) and after a long shower she was confronted with the elephant in the room.

Well, the envelope in the room.

She opened it up and slowly pulled out half the contents. Pictures, about 20 of them. All of her. The timeline stretched about a year and showed different places Artemis frequently visited. The first few were of Artemis at the store or driving somewhere. From there they got weirder, showing Artemis visiting her mother in jail or late at night running across rooftops, picking fights with petty thieves. Her committing petty thefts of her own (hey, a girl's gotta eat). The last one was a picture from this morning of her sitting in the waiting room of Tony's Auto Shop.

She felt like an idiot, she was being followed for almost a whole year and had no idea. Her dad would be disappointed (not that she cared about his opinion of her, not that she wasn't always a let-down to him).

The next thing she pulled out of the large envelope was a box. Except, it wasn't quite a box. It had wires, and a screen, and buttons she dared not to touch. By design, it looked like a bomb. She had been carrying around an inactive bomb with her half the day, and if that didn't freak her out enough, the note that was attached to said bomb did.

" _Kill the Flash or I'll kill you."_


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hey what's up, bet you thought I'd never actually post again, huh? It's only like 3 weeks late, chill out. But in all seriousness my laptop broke and I had finals and all of that, so it's been a rough couple of weeks. Read and Review! I don't own Young Justice and you probably wouldn't want me to. Enjoy!**

Chapter 3

She remembered when she was younger, probably about 9 or so, sitting on her bed with her sister. It was _way_ past their bed time and their dad would be so mad if he knew they were still awake, but Jade wanted to finish her book. And of course, Artemis only allowed this to happen if Jade read it out loud to her.

It was her favorite book, _Alice's Adventures in Wonderland_ , and even though this was her first time reading it and there were so many other books she hadn't read yet—this was her favorite. She could picture herself as Alice on a wild adventure, meeting strange people and drinking strange potions.

Real life was actually a lot like that, because in an instant Artemis felt herself falling down the rabbit hole. And she had no idea how to get out of Wonderland.

She reread the note in her hands over a dozen times, fully reading the words but not comprehending them enough to make sense out of the letters.

" _Kill the Flash or I'll kill you."_

It wasn't signed, and even more frustrating was that the letter was typed, so she had no ideas who could be behind this. How many villains had tried to kill the Flash before, and why did someone think she could? Or would?

Maybe this was a joke. Why was she taking any of this seriously? It was probably just some sick little joke by her sister or someone else who knew her and could pull off something like this. Icicle Junior, maybe?

"Ahh!" She slammed her fist on the end table next to her. Artemis thought she was done with this life, she'd been doing so much good the last couple years. . .or so she thought. But someone had been watching her and bidding their time, waiting until she was vulnerable.

She collapsed onto the floor, head in her hands. What was she even supposed to do?

As if answering her thoughts, a knock sounded at her door—which was weird as it was almost one in the morning and only Kid Flash knew she was here. Artemis crept to the door and slowly peeked through the peep-hole. No one was there. Slowly, she opened the door to find another manila envelope.

Ignoring it momentarily, Artemis ran out of the room hoping to catch the person who left the envelope, a reflex caused by years of training with her father. No trace of anyone. Of course.

This time the envelope was thicker, and when she opened it a small burner phone fell out. The second it touched her hands it began to ring. Hesitantly she flipped it open.

" _In the envelope you will find a file on the secret identity of the Flash. Get close to him. Earn his trust. Also enclosed is something to keep you on task. Fail to do what is asked and there will be consequences. I will be in contact. Destroy this phone."_

The line went dead and Artemis dropped the phone. The voice was unrecognizable, masked through some kind of computer program. Whoever was doing this was smart, and Artemis was scared that she wouldn't get out of this without losing someone or losing herself.

As promised, the envelope contained two smaller files. The first one was marked with the name _Barry Allen,_ which meant nothing to her. This must be the Flash. The second file made her stomach drop. Sprawled across the side was the name _Paula Nguyen_. Her mother.

Inside were photos similar in nature to the ones she had seen earlier that day (yesterday?) of herself. Some were taken on the street, at the grocery store. Many were taken right in their own apartment. Along with the pictures was a detailed schedule of her mom's life. When she woke up, how long she took to shower. It was disgusting and Artemis was ready to obliterate whoever was doing this on the spot.

Hadn't she been through enough?

A knock on the door shocked her back into reality and she quickly threw both files onto the bedside table before once again approaching the door and looking through the peep-hole.

Through the peep-hole she saw a blur of yellow and red, and when the figure outside began knocking louder and continuously, she knew it was Kid Pain-In-Her-Ass.

"What do you want now." She asked as she swung the door open. Kid Flash's face went from a smirk to a grimace in an instant.

"Well I figured you'd want some food-" He pulled a large bag with _Big Belly Burger_ labelled across the front out from behind his back. "Ya know, since you're kind of stuck here."

Without permission or even a word from her, Kid Flash made his way into her small motel room despite her many protests. "Great, that's nice—but it's like 2 am and I'd really rather get some sleep." She argued as he found a place to sit. Suddenly she became very aware of the file that was not even a foot from him as he plopped himself down on the bed.

"Come on, just have a burger." He held up a wrapped burger for her and accompanied it with some fries. "Also, I wanted to ask you a couple more questions."

Reluctantly Artemis took the burger. Honestly, she was starving, and if Kid Flash hadn't been sitting right in front of her she would probably be salivating. "I told you, I don't know anything. Looked like a freak accident to me." She responded offhandedly before digging into her burger.

"I was actually going to ask you about your car, get a description and license plate number so we can track it easier."

"Oh." She could feel his eyes staring holes into her and she thanked every deity known to man that he was so unobservant to not notice the file with his mentor's name on it right next to him. She had to do something quick before her luck ran out. "Uh, yeah I can write that down for you."

Artemis grabbed a pad of paper from the drawer next to the bed, you know the one that always has a Bible in it, and a pen. While Kid Flash was distracted, looking around the small room, she dropped both the pad of paper and the files on the ground and quickly kicked the files under the bed.

"Oops, clumsy me." She picked the pad of paper off the ground and wrote down the information Kid Flash had asked for. "Well, if that's all you need, it's pretty late."

He accepted the pad of paper from her and their hands touched briefly. If he didn't have a mask on, Artemis would have said he was blushing. "Yeah, of course no problem! Uh... Just one last thing?"

"What?"

"I still don't know your name." He was doing it again, that thing with his hands and his neck and for some reason it made her feel some kind of way. It was probably the sleep deprivation.

"You can call me Artemis."

Kid Flash's face lit up, smiling from ear to ear like he had just won the lottery. Something fluttered in her chest, and thankfully Kid Flash left seconds later because she felt like she was going crazy.

It was definitely the sleep deprivation.


End file.
